Destined
by suicideartist
Summary: "How can I be destined to save the world if I can't save myself?" "You're special."
1. Chapter 1: Tested

I never liked magic—not really, anyway. It scared me how powerful it could be when you weren't in control. That was partially why parents always fought about letting me go to this school.

"It's too dangerous!" My mom would say. "She'll get hurt."

"Magic is who Kiley is," my dad would insist. "She'll be fine."

"Can you believe we're finally going to Wizard City?" Jessica gushed, interrupting my thoughts.

"It's crazy," I replied. I sounded forlorn—even to myself.

Jessica stared at me, her eyes narrowed in slight suspicion. "Are you okay, Kiley? You've been quiet the entire bus ride."

Jessica's family was special like mine was- bringing us even closer together. Both of our families possessed the ability of magic—of which only 1% of humanity had the chance of getting. That's why we're going to this school— we have to take care of this ability, to not let it go out of hand.

I continued to look out the window, trying to avoid all conversation, if possible. Jessica always seemed to want to talk to me.

"I'm fine," I said.

Sometimes I really hated how much Jessica knew me. See, we had grown up together and known each other our entire lives.

"I get it," Jessica snapped. "You don't want to talk to me."

It's not that I didn't want to talk to her; I just had a lot to think about and wasn't up to talking.

"I'm sorry," I sighed, already tiring of her theatrics.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "It's fine. I'm going to take a nap, wake me when we're there. Okay?"

"Okay." I said quietly, looking out the window once more.

I wasn't exactly sure how far away we were from Wizard City, but I could tell we weren't close. It reminded me of when my mom was saying bye to me— she couldn't stop talking about how 'far away her baby was going to be'. I really thought about it, and I already missed her. She was always there for me— she was the best mother anyone could wish for, but now I'm going to be alone. I'll have to do _everything_ on my own.

How do I know? I did lots of research on this place. There are lots of shops you can shop at in the Shopping District, just like a regular town. Grocery stores, clothe stores, restaurants, everything. It's hard to be honest with myself, but I'm scared. What if something happens and I can't take care of myself? You see, my parents have always taken care of me, and if they weren't home, my grandma would come over.

But then, I thought to myself, what if I had a relapse? What if I couldn't control myself and hurt someone?

Suddenly, I felt the bus jerk to a stop. I grabbed onto the seat in front of me to stop myself from falling. Though, Jessica had been sleeping, causing her to lurch forward and fall onto the ground.

"Ow!" She screeched.

"Are you up, Jess?" I joked.

"Don't even." She hissed as she stood up, rubbing her arm.

"Are we at Wizard City?" I asked, looking out the window.

"Alright," the bus driver called. "Everybody off."

Everyone stared at each other, confused, but in the end we complied.

"Why are we getting off the bus?" Jessica asked nervously. "We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Look, you can see the outlines of a portal!" I pointed by a rock fixture, remembering that that's how you get to the school.

"Nerd," Jessica mocked.

"Shut up!" I said, but I was laughing.

As we exited the bus the hot summer air cut into me like a knife. It was impossible, but I seemed to already be sweating. I've always hated the heat.

"Alright, alright," the bus driver snapped. "Stop your yammering and get into the portal. Single file!"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "What a jerk," she muttered under her breath.

I reached the portal before Jessica. I stared into the red hues for a few moments before jumping in. I landed— on my butt—onto rough carpeting.

I stood up onto wobbly knees as I took in my surroundings. I was in a large, stone-looking room that was covered in old books and scrolls. A few of the kids on the bus were observing the scrolls, whereas some were pushing each other and goofing off. Jessica then came through the portal, landing on her stomach. Her face rubbed against the cold stone floor, causing a few cuts to form.

"Portals just can't be gentle," she muttered, rubbing her jaw.

I stifled a laugh. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"No!" She hissed. "Today just isn't my day."

I was about to reply when a polite, but distinctly powerful voice said, "Welcome students!"

My mouth literally fell open as I took in the owner of the voice. A man who looked over a thousand stood there. His entire body was covered in light wrinkles; even his pure white hair seemed wrinkly. He wore these ancient looking robes with strange designs on them. The man wore a single spectacle over his left eye as his right, cobalt blue one observed us all.

"My name is Headmaster Ambrose. I'll be guiding you through your studies," he smiled slightly. "Today you will be taking a test to determine which type of magic you will study."

"What?" Jessica protested loudly. "We didn't get to study!"

Headmaster Ambrose almost glared at her as he said, "Relax, it's only a personality test."

Jessica didn't reply, she simply rolled her eyes. She hated when she was proven wrong.

"If you'll follow me," Headmaster Ambrose said, walking towards two doors and opening them.

As the doors were pushed aside I saw what appeared to be fifty desks lined up perfectly. On every desk sat one piece of paper and one sharp pencil.

As we took our seats, Jess muttered to me, "I'm going to go opposite on my answers."

"Why?" I giggled. "It's a personality test."

She shrugged. "What have I got to lose?"

Everything, I wanted to say. This test would be choosing our lives for us.

I rolled my eyes as I looked down at the questions on the paper. Okay, I said, trying to calm myself inwardly. This will be easy.

"1): What is your favorite animal?

- Dragon

- Polar Bear

- Shark

- Serpent

- Unicorn

- Bat"

What weird answers to choose from, I thought to myself. Why don't they just put normal animals? Like a cat or dog? I decided to circle Polar Bear, but glancing over at Jessica, I could see she chose Unicorn, which probably meant her favorite animal was the bat or something.

"2): What, in your opinion, is more powerful?

- Plague (disease)

- Earthquake

- Tornado

- Hurricane

- Blizzard

- Volcano"

This question was honestly hard. They were all powerful, but in different ways. I decided to go with Hurricane, but I couldn't see what Jessica chose.

"3): What best describes you?

- Creative

- A true friend

- Trust-worthy and works hard

- Smart

- Sportsy

- Bits and pieces of different things"

I wasn't sure how to describe my entire personality in one word, so I just went with smart. Jessica was always calling me a nerd. Looking over at Jessica's paper I saw she had circled trustworthy and works hard. I nearly laughed out loud.

"4): What is your favorite time of day?

- Dawn

- Midday

- Morning

- Night

- Afternoon

- Midnight"

I wasn't exactly a morning person, so I picked the opposite. Night.

"5): What is your favorite season?

- Winter

- Spring

- Summer

- It really doesn't matter to me

- Fall

- I love them all"

I've always loved winter, ever since I was young, so I chose that. I glanced over at Jessica's paper, and she had chosen winter as well. I knew she would choose that since I knew her favorite season was summer.

"6): What is your favorite activity?

- I don't know

- Being outdoors

- Learning new things

- Reading a good book

- My kind of sport

- Having fun with my pets"

My favorite activity? Out of those I guess would be learning new things. I loved being intellectual and hoped one day to know everything.

"7): What is your favorite class in school?

- Sports/Gym

- Reading and writing

- Science and math

- I love all of my classes

- Health

- I don't like any of my classes"

I picked reading and writing because I honestly enjoyed that class more than any other, I felt free in that class, I could write and read whatever I wanted. Whenever my life was hard or my parents were fighting I would read—just for the effect to be in a different place.

"8): What is your favorite gem?

- Sapphire

- Emerald"

There were only two answers, causing my brow to furrow. I wasn't a gem expert, but I knew there were more than just two in existence. As I shrugged off the disappearance of the other gems— I chose Sapphire, because I've always loved blue and purple. I looked over at Jessica, and she had chosen emerald other than the other answer she could've chosen, sapphire.

I circled the last of the questions and sat back in my seat, waiting for someone to collect my test to grade like they did at my old high school. But nothing happened. Confused, I looked back at my test, wondering if I had done something wrong. Instead there was one simple word: Ice. Below, a second word was there, but somewhat smaller: Life. Jessica must have finished just after me because I heard her cuss lowly.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

"I'm life, Kiley," she moaned. "Life! A healer!"

"That's a good thing," I assured her.

"No it's not!" she grumbled. "I can't _believe_ this."

"You shouldn't have gone opposite on your answers," I scolded.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What magic type are you?"

I stared down at my test; making sure it still said ice and life. It did. How was it even possible to have both types of magic?

"Um," I said, unsure of what to say.

"Well?" Jessica pressed.

"Ice. I think."

"You think?" She laughed. "Can't you see it?" Jessica held up her own test, showing me the green, cursive letters spelling out life. It looked exactly like the life on my paper, except hers was bigger.

"Yeah," I said, although even to myself I sounded doubtful. I held up my own test. "See? It's ice and life."

"What?" Jessica said, her eyes widening. "That's impossible."

"I know."

So why was it there? How could it be there? Was it possible for the test to make mistakes?

"Alright," the Headmasters voice rang throughout the room. "Everyone has finished their test and has gotten their school of magic. Now if you'll follow Mr. Highenbottom, he'll show you to your dorms."

Jessica and I stood up to leave, when Headmaster Ambrose said, "Kiley, can you stay behind for a moment?"

I knew he wasn't asking me to. He was telling me to stay.

"Uh, oh," Jessica whispered with a small smirk. Louder, she said, "I'll be waiting outside for you, Kiley."

"No need," Headmaster Ambrose smiled thinly. "Just stay with the group."

"No," Jess's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to wait for Kiley."

She walked outside before Headmaster Ambrose could protest. "Quite the spitfire," Headmaster Ambrose murmured to himself. I smiled, not sure if I was supposed to respond to that.

The Headmaster shook himself out of his haze, staring at me curiously. "You're special."

"Special? You mean besides being a wizard?"

It was meant to be a joke, but he didn't laugh. Tough crowd.

"You study two types of magic," he told me. "It's very rare, but it happens sometimes."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means you're special."

Annoyed, I snapped, "You already said that!"

He shrugged, "There's nothing else to say about it."

I opened my mouth to protest but he waved my worries away. "Go catch up with the group, Kiley. We'll talk later."

I stared at him, unsure. "Do you promise?"

Headmaster Ambrose's forehead crinkled, causing more wrinkles to form, but still, he said, "I swear."


	2. Chapter 2: Plans

"This is where we have to live?" Jessica gagged, not even trying to mask her disgust.

I laughed at her facial expression. "Hey, it's not that bad."

She stared at me, her eyes wide. "It's completely empty, Kiley!"

"How were we supposed to bring furniture?" she rolled her eyes. "We came here on a tiny school bus."

"Chill out," I said, giggling again. "We can just buy some stuff."

"With what?" She demanded. Jessica took a few moments to take out her wallet and pull out a five dollar bill. "This? With this dollar bill are we supposed to buy an entire dorm room of furniture?"

"Not an entire dorm room," I hedged. "Headmaster Ambrose was kind enough to give us two beds to sleep on and a desk."

Jessica walked over to the beds I had talked about.

"What, these?" she mused.

Jessica jumped on top of one and a layer of dust immediately erupted off of it, causing Jess to start coughing. I ran over to her in alarm, my joking manor far gone. See, Jess had had bad asthma ever since she was a little kid and dust always sent off a bad reaction in her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Fine," she wheezed.

"Do you need your inhaler," I asked worryingly. "I think I saw your mom pack it in your suitcase."

"Nah," she waved it off. "I'm not having an attack."

"Are you sure? You've always needed your inhaler with dust," I insisted.

"I'm fine," she repeated, but this time there was something in her voice that told me to leave her alone.

"Okay," I said.

The joking atmosphere was now gone and replaced with an awkward one instead. I opened my mouth to apologize when a sharp knock at our door interrupted me. I sighed softly before walking over to our door and opening it. There stood an owl. Like a literal owl. I had no idea how an owl could knock on a door when it had no opposable thumbs, but I didn't question it.

"Hello," the owl spoke.

Jessica ran over to the doorway, her mouth falling open. "What?" she shrieked.

The owl simply blinked in Jessica's direction before continuing, "The Headmaster is requesting you in his office."

"But we just saw him!" Jessica protested lazily.

"Why does he want to see us?" I asked.

"No," the owl said. "Not the both of you. Just Kiley."

Jessica snorted, "Excuse me?"

"Yeah," I agreed quietly. "I'm not going without Jessica."

"We're not going," Jessica hissed, slamming the door in the bird's face.

I stared at her, my mouth wide open. "Was that necessary?"

She looked slightly offended. "We're in this together, right?"

"Of course," I agreed. "But you can't just be rude to talking birds."

Jessica scowled but allowed for me to reopen the door to our dorm. The bird still stood there, his beak open wide in shock.

"I'll go," I said. "But only if Jessica can come, too. She's my friend."

"Some things are more important than friendship," the owl's tone of voice was annoying me.

"No," I told him. "Some things really aren't. Now either Jessica comes with me or I don't come at all."

I stood there, leaning against the doorway as I waited for the bird's answer. Eventually the bird complied, "Fine. Jessica can come, too. But the headmaster won't like it."

The owl started flapping away towards the headmaster's castle as Jessica muttered, "What does it matter what Merle Ambrose thinks?"

I chose not to tell her that Headmaster Ambrose was the most powerful wizard in existence. Instead we walked in silence, following the owl into the back entrance of the Headmaster's home.

"This seems like a bad idea," Jessica warned.

"I know," I replied. "But what else have we got to do?"

Jessica rolled her eyes as we— for the second time today— faced the Headmaster.

"Kiley!" the Headmaster greeted enthusiastically. As he looked behind me and spotted Jessica, he sighed, "Oh."

The owl said, "Kiley wouldn't come without her."

"I understand, Gamma," Headmaster Ambrose said. "It's a sacrifice we're going to have to take."

"A sacrifice?" Jessica asked, nudging my shoulder.

I simply shrugged, having no idea what he was talking about.

Headmaster Ambrose sighed heavily, "Alright then, let me introduce you to the others."

That was when I noticed there were two other teens in the room. How had I not seen them before?

I'm embarrassed to say my mouth fell open as my eyes met a pair of ocean blue ones. He was tall; shorter than the girl standing next to him, but taller than me and Jessica. He was fit in that I-work-out-everyday-because-I-lack-self-confidence kind of way. Lean and muscular. I had a feeling it was because the training courses here were vigorous.

His hair was midnight ebony, the darkest hair I'd ever seen. It looked good on him. It gave him this sort of... I don't know— dangerous vibe. But his eyes were kind and gentle. He confused me. The girl next to him was the scariest thing I'd ever seen. It wasn't that she was ugly-no, actually, she was insanely gorgeous. But she had a vicious, killer look in her bright jade eyes. Cold and calculating, you know? Her hair was a bright blonde that seemed to blind me momentarily, but I moved past it. Another thing, she was huge. Not, like, fat or anything, but just tall and big-boned. She was lean and fit like the guy, but looked like she worked out more. Like she was trying to prove something. Seeing these two beautifully radiant people made my self-esteem go to an all time low. For once in a really long time I started to feel bad about myself again.

Nearly suffocating in self-loathing I hardly missed Merle Ambrose say, "This is Blaze and Savannah, my star pupils."

"Hi!" Jessica smiled brightly. She always loved meeting new people and making new friends. Jess was a lot better at socializing than I was. "My name is Jessica! It's nice to meet you Blaze and Savannah!"

My anxiety started to kick in like usual, so I quietly joined in, trying the best I could to be normal. "Hi."

Savannah simply rolled her eyes and didn't reply to either of us, but Blaze smiled almost as widely as Jessica and said, "Hello, it's nice to meet you both."

I was surprised by how proper he spoke. Most guys were jerks now-a-days, but Blaze seemed like a moderately nice guy and we had just met. I knew we were going to be good friends.

After being friends with Jessica for so long I was shocked a mature person even existed.

"I suppose you might be wondering why I gathered you all here," Merle Ambrose said, interrupting our greetings.

Savannah snorted. "Might be wondering? Merle you dragged me out of a training session for this. This better be good."

"Oh," he smiled. "It is."

I shared an uneasy look with Jessica.

"I'm sure you've all heard of Cyrus Drake's brother Malistare," Headmaster Ambrose started.

"Who?" Jessica cut him off.

Blaze said, "The old death teacher at our school. He left when his wife, Sylvia, died."

"Oh," Jessica said, slightly abashed.

"Anyway," Headmaster Ambrose continued. "Malistare has a plot— I'm not sure what it is yet, but I know it's bad. I've arranged for the three— four of you to stop Malistare."

Savannah started laughing, causing me to flinch. It was a cold, heartless sound coming from her. "Do you honestly expect for us to kill one of the most powerful wizards in the universe?" she rolled her eyes and jabbed a thumb in Jessica and I's direction, "The two of them haven't even finished enrolling. You'll get them killed."

"Oh?" Jessica challenged, her eyes narrowing. "Like you're so much better than us?"

Savannah's green eyes darkened and turned red for a few seconds. I jumped, my fear of the taller girl growing by the second. "Shut up, you little weed."

"Weed?" Jessica roared.

I wanted to laugh, but I was too scared to. You see, Jessica had been born with rare, pastel green hair. She was always really self conscious about it since she was the only person pretty much alive with the irregular color. When I was about twelve, I decided to dye my hair purple for two reasons. One, I loved the color, and two, so Jessica wouldn't feel as alone. I loved that little goofball.

"Um," Blaze's awkward tone cut through Savannah and Jessica's soon-to-be fight.

"Guys, don't fight," I said.

"What?" Jessica screamed. "Did you hear what she called me?"

"You shouldn't be fighting in front of the Headmaster," I continued.

Savannah turned her glare onto me. "Will you shut up?"

My eyes watered, but I refused for tears to fall. I opened my mouth to say something I'd probably regret when Merle Ambrose cut me off, "Children," he scolded, "Settle down."

Everyone quieted at his powerful voice.

"We don't have time to fool around," his voice was firm. "You must stop Malistare."

"How?" Blaze questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Merle shrugged. "The last I heard Malistare was in Krokotopia."

"How are we supposed to get there?" Savannah snarled. "We don't have the world key."

Headmaster Ambrose walked over to a large bookshelf and pulled out a thin, pale blue book. "There's an ancient story in here," he explained. "Of a wrath in the Nightside that holds the key to Krokotopia."

"What're we supposed to do? Kill him?" Jessica rolled her eyes.

I had expected Headmaster Ambrose to laugh off her comment, but his face was straight as he replied, "Yes. You'll have to kill him."

He opened the book to a page and showed us all a picture of a hunched over dark figure. The figure— or, the wrath, I was guessing— had a single scythe in his hand. His eyes glowed a bright yellow and seemed to glare at me through the book. We all shared brief glances with each other, unsure.

I had just come to this school and I was already assigned to kill something. I haven't even started my studies on my schools, I know nothing. What was I supposed to do? Were these two extremely experienced wizards supposed to help me and Jessica?

Eventually, Savannah piped up, "So when do we start?"

"You can't be serious," Jessica lectured. "We can't actually be doing this."

"We have to," I told Jessica quietly as I packed a small travelling bag.

"Why should we?" she exploded. "We'll be killed!"

"We aren't going to kill the wrath right at this second," I finished packing stuff in my bag. "They're going to help us get more experienced with magic, and then we'll go defeat this thing. The Headmaster knows we would die if we went right now, that's why he planned this. They're helping us, we aren't helping them."

"So then why are you packing a bag?" Jessica inquired. "Why pack if we're going to be staying here studying for so long?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but she continued, "You know, Headmaster Ambrose said we have to hurry. We won't have time to study."

"Jess—"

"All I'm saying is that you should think before you agree to go kill yourself."

I stared at her, my mouth falling open. "I'm not killing myself…"

"It's a suicide mission!" she insisted, tears gathering in her eyes. "I don't want to die."

I closed my mouth, my hands fiddling with the fabric in front of me. "Then don't come," I mumbled.

"What?" her voice sounded shocked and slightly outraged.

"Don't come," I repeated, but slightly louder than before. My voice still wobbled.

"I'm not letting you go out there alone!" She screamed. "I'll never forgive myself."

"Jessica," I looked into her eyes, and she really did seem scared. She's almost never scared, but she really was. Her being scared, scared me. "We don't study out of tons of books all of the time. We get experienced through fighting things, getting better at your schools' techniques, just like you would if you were trying to get better at art. We won't die, I promise you. Only a few wizards have been known to die, and I know we won't be one of them any time soon. Savannah and Blaze are strong. The Headmaster knows this. He planned this all out."

Jessica looked down. "We're really doing this, then?"

I smiled, but I didn't feel happy. "It's for the greater good."

She simply shook her head and began to pack her own bag for our journey. I wanted to talk to her, to comfort her some more, but anytime I tried to strike up a conversation Jessica struck me down. Just as I was about done three very loud knocks sounded at our door. I tensed, an odd sense of déjà vu surging through me as I remembered what Gamma the owl had done just a few hours prior. Jessica glanced over at me, her eyes widened slightly. I could tell she felt the same. Jessica walked slowly but surely over to our door and opened it. Pushing Jessica aside, in walked Savannah with Blaze trailing behind her uncertainly. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else than right here.

"Are you packed yet?" Savannah snapped, her vicious eyes glancing over at our backpacks.

"Well," Jessica hissed. "We would be done if you hadn't interrupted us."

Savannah stepped forward, her eyes blazing. I flinched slightly at the extreme anger on her face. Jessica was probably the only person to have ever defied her. Blaze looked so gorgeous in that moment, his eyes trailing down on the floor, but then he quickly stepped in between the two spitfires.

"We have better things to do than fight with each other," he said.

"Like what? Killing a wrath?" Jessica snorted.

"No," Blaze sighed. "Like training the two of you."

I raised a brow, "You are our magic types?"

"Thankfully not," Savannah cut in, laughing slightly. "Ice is the weakest… same with life."

"Yeah, right!" Jessica scowled.

"Anyways, no," Blaze intervened before a fight could start. "We aren't your magic types, but we can help you all the same." Blaze continued, "As for you Savannah, you shouldn't be judging their school type. Fire is one of the worst schools, history books have told me."

"How?" Savannah hissed. My eyes widened as her eyes turned red again and her hands seemed to almost be aflame.

"Your control is next to nothing," Blaze stated, almost bored. He turned to me, his blue eyes widening slightly. "But icy here can control very nicely."

I was stunned by him even saying that. It sounded like a compliment, a very weird one, but it was indeed a compliment. I tried not to blush. However, Savannah was outraged by Blaze's flirtation. Her eyes were completely red now and the rest of her body seemed to darken— almost like it was burning. And in that moment I honestly thought Savannah might kill all of us. But, then, Blaze said, "Chill, Savannah. I was only joking."

But I knew he was just lying about the joking so she wouldn't explode.

Savannah calmed slightly, her reddish eyes falling onto Jessica. "Are you ready to learn?" she mocked.

"I was born ready," Jessica enthused darkly.

"We should probably get out of your dorm," Blaze said. "It could get messy."

"Yeah," Savannah agreed, her eyes searching. "We wouldn't want your empty dorm to get demolished."

"Hey!" Jessica and I yelled. "We literally just moved in," Jessica frowned.

After a few seconds of silence, Blaze said, "I'm sorry about her. She's… difficult to new people."

"You don't say?" Jessica muttered.

Blaze's smile was so gorgeous, and I couldn't help but stare at him, but then he started to walk out of the dorm, and we followed him.


	3. Chapter 3: Training

"Why are we doing this?" Jessica demanded. "This is stupid. My feet hurt and I'm tired."

"Jessica..." I looked at her, wishing she would be a little more mature. The first impression she gave to these two was horrible.

"What?" she snapped. "This is pointless. I don't want to train."

"Does she ever shut up?" Savannah inquired, truly curious.

Jessica put a hand over her heart and faked a large gasp. "Why, I'm so offended!"

"Alright," Blaze warned. "That's enough guys. We have to get far out into the forest before we can truly practice. We wouldn't want to kill anyone.

"How am I supposed to murder anyone with life magic?" Jessica hissed. "I'm a healer."

Savannah rolled her eyes dramatically. "You aren't a healer yet. An inexperienced girl messing with life magic can seriously injure someone."

"I'm going to seriously injure you," Jessica muttered.

Savannah suddenly stopped walking, causing me to bang into her overly muscular back. I backed away from her as she turned around, glaring at Jessica. "What did you just say?"

Inappropriately, Jessica burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Savannah demanded, exasperated.

Jessica smirked. "I have control over you, Savannah. See, if I can get you angry without trying you really must be-"

"God!" Savannah cut her off. "It's not my fault I get pissed! You're just so aggravating."

Jessica made a face. "'Aggravating' is not the word I'd use to describe myself. I'd use something like 'amazing' 'gorgeous' or 'fabulous'."

Savannah shrieked, "I swear I'm going to-"

"YOU GUYS!" Blaze's powerful voice stunned everybody, and made us froze while staring at him. "You two, Savannah and Jessica, need to stop fighting. We're all stuck together until we kill this wrath, so don't make this a bad time for everyone."

"Savannah makes everything a bad time," Jessica snapped.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Savannah hissed.

I sighed. I had always thought coming to Wizard City would change Jessica. I had thought it would change me, too. Make us better people. Less depressed for me and less selfish for Jessica. But I was stupid to have thought that.

"Please stop fighting," I whispered. "We have to prepare for the wrath."

"Fine!" Jessica and Savannah chorused, both turning away from each other.

Blaze and I looked at each other, trying to figure out if they would actually stop fighting just for the next five minutes. After a moment of silence between everyone, we started walking again, getting closer to where we would train. Everyone kept glancing at each other, wondering why Ambrose thought we were all supposed to be together.

"Are we there yet?" Jessica complained, causing the rest of us to groan.

"We'll be there soon," Blaze told her. He sounded annoyed, maybe even a little angry.

I turned to look over at my best friend. "Just be quiet until we're there, Jess." A hurt expression flashed over her face. "I'm sorry, but I just don't want another fight."

I warily turned to look over at my best friend. Sighing, I said, "Just be quiet until we're there, Jess."

A hurt expression flashed over her face, causing guilt to seep in. "I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I don't want another fight."

"Whatever," she said, looking down.

But at that moment, Blaze shouted, happily, "We're here guys!"

'Here' was a barren field full of dead wheat. A few trees had fallen in the field, giving it a sort of dangerous look.

"We walked seven miles for this?" Jessica suddenly roared. "I cannot believe this! I broke a nail hiking here- a nail that took me three weeks to grow out!"

Blaze set his jaw. "It's a good practice site, Jessica. You'll see."

"Let's get started," Savannah ordered. "The sun's about to go down and I have a feeling the green haired troll of the group is afraid of the dark."

"Pffh," Jessica scoffed.

"Anyway," Blaze cleared his throat loudly. "For starters, everyone should get far away from each other."

"That doesn't seem very helpful!" Jessica protested.

"It is helpful if you want to live," Savannah insisted, throwing a glare in Jessica's direction.

"Okay then," I mumbled, slightly creeped out.

We all moved a few feet away from each other, but stayed facing the same direction- like a compass.

"Savannah already knows this," Blaze continued, "There's two ways to use magic. One being with just your hands- you move them in a certain way to the spell, or two: you use a wand or staff and do the same thing. You guys don't have a wand or staff, so we'll start off with the basics."

To be honest, I hardly heard a word he was saying. I was lost in his azure eyes. And then everyone was looking at me.

I jumped back in surprise. "What?"

"It's your turn," Blaze explained.

"Yeah, hurry up!" Savannah snapped.

Jessica nodded. "We've been waiting for you to do a spell for like a minute now."

"Um…" I trailed off, biting my lip. How was I supposed to tell them I wasn't paying attention? This had never happened before. I always paid attention. But I guess I never had someone like Blaze to distract me before…

Blaze stared at me, tilting his head. "Kiley? Are you ready?"

"Anytime now," Jessica said.

"I-" I was anxious, not knowing what to do.

Blaze smiled. He had a really nice smile- two row of perfect white teeth. "Here, let me help you."

"But isn't it dangerous to be close to someone during a spell?" I asked nervously.

He laughed. "I doubt you'll be able to hurt me."

I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be offensive, but I decided to ignore the comment.

Blaze lightly touched my hands and lifted them up towards a fallen tree. "Freeze it," he said.

"What?" I gasped. "How am I supposed to? You haven't taught me anything!"

He shrugged and there was that beautiful smile again. "Magic isn't taught, Kiley. You're thinking too much. "

"She does tend to think allot!" Jessica interrupted.

"You just have to think," Blaze continued, looking at Jessica but then back at me. "Calmly think and do."

I took a moment, then moved my hands in a tiny circle movement, causing some frost to cover the tree. The frost quickly melted due to the hot sunlight, though.

"That was good," Blaze encouraged, although I saw on his face that it wasn't. "Try again."

"She's never going to freeze it," Savannah laughed humorlessly. "This is her first time."

I swallowed thickly, my eyes watering slightly at Savannah's discouragement. If I couldn't freeze the tree I'd look like an idiot. Trying to ignore her comment, I tried a little harder, really focusing. Ice magic shot out of my hand, and the tree completely froze, not melting a bit. No tiny water drop fell from the tree.

Blaze's mouth was wide as he let out a laugh- a surprised laugh. "You did it."

"Hell yeah she did!" Jessica cheered. "I knew she could. If she only-"

"What?" Savannah roared, with her eyes starting to glow red. "This is impossible!"

Her hands tensed up into a fist, and she looked at me, deep into my eyes. She looked disgusted at me, it looked like she wanted to kill me. I honestly never thought she would get that angry. After a couple of seconds of her staring at me with a death glare, she shot out super hot flames towards the tree I had frozen, causing it and the grass around it to be on fire.

Jessica had been the closest to the flames, causing her pants to catch on fire.

"Crap!" she screamed, falling onto the ground. I tried to run over to help Jessica, but Blaze held me back. I hadn't realized just how strong he was until I was using my entire body force against him.

Jessica continued screaming. "Help me you idiots! I'm, like, on fire!"

Blaze's voice was eerily calm as he said, "Savannah put it out."

Her eyes were wide as she watched Jessica's roars of agony. Obviously Savannah hadn't wanted for anyone to get hurt. "I-I can't…"

"See what I mean!" Blaze's calm voice was instantly gone, replaced with a patronizing one. "No control over your magic whatsoever!"

Blaze sighed and lifted one of his hands toward the sky. Rain instantly began to fall, along with some thunder which I think he did by mistake, and the rain was only pouring down only on flames went out and Blaze let me go-allowed me to run over to Jessica.

"Are you okay?" I gasped.

"What do you think?" she spat. "I was just on fire."

"I'm so sorry!" Savannah exclaimed. "I didn't mean-"

Jessica only nodded, her eyes closed tight. Her entire face was contorted in pain.

"Well," Blaze murmured. "I guess this would be a good way to start your healing magic."

Savannah stared at him like he was an idiot. "You need a clear head for spells. In her state her mind is the opposite of clear.

"Even when she's not being set on fire it's hard for her to have a clear mind," I said, and then explained, "She has ADHD."

Blaze groaned. "Fine… then- Kiley! You heal her!"

"Me?" My eyes were wide.

"Merle said you were special," Savannah replied. "Said you were a healer, too."

"But I don't know how to-"

Blaze sighed, "Kiley you need to heal her or else the burns will become permanent. We don't have time to walk back to the city and I don't know if she can teleport in her state."

"That's a lot of pressure to put on a sixteen year old," I whispered.

I tried to clear my head to heal her, but I couldn't. All I could think about was the sweat on Jessica's forehead and how fringed her hair was. I wondered how much pain she was in. I tried my hardest to heal her, but the best I could do was just a tiny little bit, barely enough to make the sweat on her head go away.

"Jessica, you need to heal yourself. I can't." I said, sadly.

I looked down at her, nudging her softly with my shoe. She hadn't responded. "Jessica?"

Savannah sighed angrily. "She's unconscious! The little drama queen!"

"She needs to go to Professor Wu," Blaze murmured.

"But you said we can't teleport," I protested.

He shrugged. "It's a bad idea to do teleport right now, but it's our best option."

He looked at me and Savannah. "Kiley, keep trying to heal her, and don't stop. Savannah, help me carry her so we can all teleport together."

We both looked at each other and then at him, following as he said. I didn't really get why he was all of the sudden the leader of our little group.

If Jessica was conscious she'd mutter something about feminism and women's rights, but she wasn't. She was out cold. I tried to heal her, really I did try, but there was nothing there. I felt weak, tired, and useless. How was I supposed to be some great wizard if I couldn't even heal my best friend?

Savannah rolled her eyes. "So why did she even pass out? Burns can't cause someone to faint."

I shrugged and offered, "Probably from the smoke."

She snorted, "Doubt it! Magic fire never creates smoke."

Blaze sighed. "It's because she's life, she's a healer, but is weak."

I was instantly defensive. "How does her being life make her weak?"

Savannah laughed. "There's no reason to it- healers just aren't as strong as the rest of us."

"But they heal us!" I argued. "Without them, we would all die!"

Savannah raised a brow. "So?"

"Look," Blaze interrupted us. "We don't have time for this. We need to teleport. Now."

I nodded in agreement. Anything to get away from Savannah's harsh tongue.

"Alright," Blaze looked over at me, his eyes scrutinizing. "Have you ever teleported before?"

"No." My mom had always claimed it to be too dangerous.

"Perfect!" Savannah crooned sarcastically.

"It's not my fault!" I cried. "Besides, we wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you."

"Stop it!" Blaze screamed. "We need to focus!"

My eyes widened at the intensity of his voice.

"Since it's your first time,' Blaze said. "It's going to feel really weird and you might puke. But that's fine. It's normal. The important thing is getting Jessica there. It's very hard to teleport the unconscious or dead."

"I'm going to throw up?" I asked, alarmed.

"Yep," Savannah said, glaring at me. "Is that a problem?"

"No," I sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Blaze nodded firmly and we all joined hands. I was in the middle, one hand with Blaze, and one with Savannah while the two of them grabbed onto Jessica.

"Hold on," Blaze murmured.

I didn't feel anything at first. Honestly I wondered if the teleportation had even worked at all, but then a strange sensation fell over me like a cloak. It was like I was flying but drowning at the same time, being torn in two different directions but going to the same destination. A horrible feeling sat in the pit of my stomach and a nasty taste formed in my throat. I knew what was going to happen. When I was twelve I had gotten a really bad case of the stomach flu. I vomited like five times a day for a week. I knew what was coming.

And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. Everything stopped. The drowning, the flying, the sinking, the falling, the sickness. Gone.

I gasped, opening my eyes to see a luscious garden in front of a large, green-looking mansion. A simple leaf was on top of the door with the writing life below it.

"Where are we?" I groaned.

"Ew," Savannah said. "Don't puke on me."

"We're at Professor Wu's house," Blaze told me. "She's the best healer in the spiral."

Ignoring Blaze's answer to my question, I all of the sudden starting throwing up. I wasn't even feeling sick anymore- I don't know why it happened. I fell onto the ground like a human would stand as a dog, and I threw up on these very pretty flowers. Surprisingly I felt someone hold my hair back and rub my back. I glanced over my shoulder to see Blaze standing comfortingly by my side, smiling at me soothingly.

"I know it hurts," he said. "But after this it won't be as bad."

I nodded in understanding, moving very far away from my throw up. "So how is Professor Wu supposed to know we're here? Do we knock or something?"

Savannah glanced over at my vomit, smirking. "Oh, trust me. She'll know."

As if on cue a very large cow with hair and clothes came storming out of the mansion screaming, "Who touched my flowers?"

Savannah calmly pointed at me.

I looked up at her and felt anxiety rush through me. I got up quicker than I could take a breath and I backed up right into Blaze, him then backing up away from me. I didn't know what this cow was going to do. She was very big and honestly scared me, but if she was the best healer in the spiral, wouldn't she be nice? I was worried that she wouldn't be.

Savannah sighed, "Moolinda don't attack her. We're here for the troll."

The cow stared at her, shocked. "You brought a troll here?"

Blaze stepped out from behind me. "No. She means Jessica." Blaze pointed downward at my friend. "She got badly burned and we need your healing, Professor Wu."

"But who touched my flowers?" She looked at the three of them, then at me, next to the flowers covered in vomit.

"It's not Kiley's fault," Blaze said. "It's her first time teleporting."

"Oh," Professor Wu rocked back on her heels and then stared down at Jessica. "She's a life student."

"How can you tell?" I asked curiously.

She smiled. "I sense it. She is weaker than the others but her heart is bigger. She cares too much."

I thought I was the only one who could see that Jessica was more than just a crazy hyper teenager, but it turns out that I'm not. A talking cow could tell too, which, if I say it in that way, sounds weird.

Though, Savannah just had to ruin it. "Jessica?" she scoffed. "Caring?"

Professor Wu glared at her. "I can also tell you injured this girl. So you should probably stay quiet."

"Whatever," Savannah hissed, looking away.

"So can you heal her?" I asked Professor Wu anxiously.

She grinned, but it looked all wrong on her. Her teeth were yellow, crooked, and there seemed to be holes where some teeth had fallen out. "Of course I can! It'll take only a minute."

Professor Wu walked over to Jessica and squatted down, bringing one of her hooves over her chest. A fresh bubble of anxiety immersed in my chest-it looked like Professor Wu was going to crush Jessica's ribs. But she didn't. Instead, a thin green light glowed from her hooves and flowed onto Jessica and her burns. I watched in amazement as the burns and charred flesh turned into something fresh and new. The cuts and blisters faded into nothing… as if they hadn't been there at all.

Professor Wu pulled away and looked over at us. "It's done. Expect her to be a little disoriented, although it should all be cleared by tomorrow." She gave Savannah a hard stare, "Stay out of trouble."

Professor Wu then proceeded to trot back into her home, slamming the door.

Well," Savannah commented. "That happened."

I ignored her, staring down at Jessica. She really was beautiful in that exotic kind of way. Her pastel green hair and cobalt eyes gave her the look of a siren or something mythical. It looked weird with her eyes closed. It looked wrong.

"How long until she wakes up?" I asked Blaze impatiently.

He shrugged. "Should be any time now."

Savannah yawned. "Well, I'm tired and I really don't wanna be around when the troll awakes . . . so I'm gonna head back to my house."

Blaze sighed. "It's late and I'm guessing you haven't eaten since breakfast. Do you want to come over to my dorm? I don't think Justin will mind."

I stared at him uneasily. "What about Jessica? And who's Justin?"

"Justin is my roommate. We've been friends since we first came here and long before that, just like you and Jessica. And about her, we'll bring her to the dorm, and hopefully she'll be up by then." Blaze said that calmly while he checked her to see if she was waking up.

"Alright," I agreed readily. "But how are we going to get Jess to your dorm?"

"Are you ready to throw up again?" Blaze chuckled a laugh.

I groaned. "You seriously want to teleport?"

"Unless you want to carry your friend for the next one to two hours, yes. Teleporting isn't hard."

I sighed at his logic. I knew he was right. "Fine. Let's just get it over with."

Honestly, I was wishing just a little bit that I would throw up again, so I could feel his hand on my back again. I will never forget that moment.

"Grab my hand," he instructed. "And use your other arm to hold onto Jessica."

I followed what he instructed me to do and I waited for him to teleport us because I had no idea how to. I was guessing I would be taught that at some point.

"Okay," Blaze glanced over at me, giving me a wide smile. "You ready?"

I smiled weakly. "I guess."

We waited for a quiet moment and then it happened all over again- the weird sensations came back. It was better this time, but the pit in my stomach felt slightly worse. I wasn't happy about it- at all. But then all the weird sensations went away and we were in front of Blaze's dorm. I really hoped they had a trash can…

Blaze lowered himself down to my level, his eyes square with mine. "Are you okay?"

I got lost in his eyes for a few seconds, but then I replied, "Do you have a trash can?"


	4. Chapter 4: The Wrath

(NOTE): Sorry that this chapter is long! It would've been super short or this length.

* * *

Last night had been- putting it lightly- insane. After I had dinner with Blaze and his roommate Justin, Jessica decided to wake up. She was really disoriented at first, not knowing how to count to ten and forgetting my name. But after awhile it got better. Since it wasn't really safe for Jessica to teleport in her weak condition Blaze helped me walk her home. Blaze was sweet like that. Anyway, that was last night and now it was morning and I was starving. Jessica was over on her bed snoring lightly and murmuring the occasional word in her sleep.

I opened the door hesitantly and almost passed out when I saw it was Blaze. I opened the door hesitantly and almost passed out when I saw it was Blaze. Looking perfect. As usual. And then there was me. Without makeup. In my pajamas. Crap.

"Hi," he said, holding his palm up.

I screeched, hiding behind the door, and I didn't even respond. I just hid behind the door, hoping he would give me at least ten minutes to get myself ready for presentation.

"Um," he laughed. "You okay?"

I stayed behind the door. "Why are you here so early?"

"It's ten o'clock," Blaze replied. He sounded confused. "This is late for me-Savannah and I wake up at dawn."

"I had a long day yesterday. Don't blame me for waking up so late." I peeked out the door, and he was smiling. I just made a huge fool of myself. "But why are you here?"

Blaze's teasing expression instantly turned serious. "It's time," he informed me.

I sighed. "But I'm not ready. I woke up give minutes ago!"

His frown got larger. "You look fine, Kiley. Wake up Jessica. We have to go now."

I was getting really anxious. I hadn't taken my medication yet. "Please just give me and Jessica like ten minutes I'll be out as soon as possible."

He sighed, looking over me. Blaze looked defeated. Tired. "I know that you aren't prepared, Kiley… but we need to do this. The sooner the better."

My eyes started to water up, and I just slammed the door in his face.

I heard his groan from outside the door. "Kiley!" he yelled.

Ten minutes!" I called back. "Go get Savannah or something."

"I'm not leaving," he said loudly. "I'm staying here as incentive for you to get out of your dorm."

"Ten minutes," I repeated.

"Fine."

I ran to Jessica's bed and I started shaking her, hitting her with pillows. "Get up!" I yelled.

Jessica groaned. "Go away."

"Blaze is outside and we need to be ready in ten minutes to go defeat the wrath. You need to get up!" I kept shaking her for the next ten seconds, and then I went to go take my medication.

"No," she mumbled, turning back into her sheets. "No way."

I swallowed the pill and ran back to her bed, hitting her with a pillow again. "Yes way. Get up, now. Please, for me."

"Nah."

I frowned, and I ran to my mirror to go put on some quick makeup. "You'll regret not getting up."

"The only thing that's worth regret is the creation of daytime," Jessica hissed.

I rolled my eyes at her theatrics and ran to my suitcase to put on a pretty outfit. Deep inside I knew it was stupid to put on my prettiest shirt when I was about to go kill a wrath… but it didn't matter. Everything I did was ultimately to impress Blaze. I walked over to the door calmly, making sure my everything was perfect. I didn't want him to think I was some crazy hag or something.

I opened the door to see him sitting in the corner since we were at the very end of the hall. "You've got to help me wake up Jessica," I said. "She's being a pain."

Blake quirked a perfect brow. "She won't get up? Doesn't she realize what has to be done today?"

"She'll wake up if you come in," I continued. "She doesn't like it when random people come in when she's not fully awake."

"Why?" he questioned.

I shrugged. "I don't know. She gets uncomfortable really easily. Like when people flirt with her…" I cleared my throat and opened the door wider. "Anyway, come on in."

I shrugged. "I don't know. She gets uncomfortable really easily. Like when people flirt with her…" I was pretty much talking about myself there, but I cleared my throat anyway and opened the door wider. "Anyway, come in."

Blaze got up and came into the dorm and I closed the door behind him. "You have to go wake her up."

He nodded firmly and walked over to Jessica, shaking her firmly. I was shocked at just how forcefully he was touching her. I was going to tell him to stop but then Jessica jumped out of her bed and onto the floor, gasping. Jessica stood up in a flash, her eyes wide and her hair a mess.

"You little-" her eyes widened when she saw it was Blaze who had awoken her.

"Yes, it's me," Blaze kept looking at her. "I hope you're ready. We're defeating the wrath today."

Jessica pouted. "How long will that take?"

"The sooner we get there-"

"Yeah, yeah," Jessica cut him off. "You know, I have rights. You can't just come in here and wake me up. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Caty Stanton worked hard for this particular reason. This is America, Blaze. You can't destroy America."

"Um..." Blaze looked at me, and then back at Jessica. "Please just get yourself ready. We're leaving in five."

"What are you talking about?" she hissed. "Are you trying to say women aren't ready like men are ready? Oh, well you've done it now! I don't need five minutes! I'm ready to kill a wrath now."

"If you say so," Blaze started to walk towards the door. "We're going to go get Savannah, and on the way, you guys can eat what I brought you, since I know you guys don't have much." He went through the bag he had been holding since he had came here, which I never really payed attention to, and he handed us both separate bagels with cream cheese and a water bottle. "You'll need to eat before we kill the wrath. It'll help your magic be stronger."

"I didn't even learn any magic," Jessica protested. "My lesson was cut short because someone set me on fire."

Blaze shrugged. "It happens. Forgive and forget."

"If it makes you feel better… Savannah feels really bad," Blaze told her forlornly. "But there's no time to talk about this," Blaze continued. "Start eating. We're going to walk to her dorm now." He opened our door, and he held it open for us, waiting for our feet to start walking.

Jessica, as usual, broke the silence. "A bagel? Are you serious? Do you expect me to eat this? I have standards, you know." She walked out of the dorm, and I followed after her, Blaze following after me. We both ignored her.

"So where is Savannah's home?" I asked.

He sighed. "Not far from here."

"Does she have a roommate?"

"No..." he sighed, but heavier this time. "Her roommate... got hurt. Badly."

"Oh, her roommate got hurt?" Jessica piped up. "Did she… I don't know, get burned or something?"

"Right now is not the time to joke around Jessica," I said biting into the bagel.

"She's right, though," Blaze murmured. "Alia did get badly burned back around when Savannah was new with fire."

"Hmm," Jessica drawled, happy to have been proven right.

"Don't bring Alia up around Savannah," he warned. "She feels guilty."

"Please don't," I looked back at Jessica. I had a feeling she would do something bad if I didn't tell her not to do so.

She didn't say anything, only smirked.

Blaze stopped suddenly and knocked on a new, pretty looking door.

"Hey, why's her door nicer than ours?" Jessica protested, voicing my thoughts.

"Her old door burned down."

Jessica and I exchanged an awkward look as we waited for Savannah to answer.

"Savannah?" Blaze knocked on the door harder. "Are you there?"

He knocked again, but louder and more consistent than before. "Open up," he said.

We all stood there for about two minutes, just waiting.

"She must be training." Blaze started walking off, and I followed after him because I assumed he knew where she was. Though Jessica didn't follow. She had always been hesitant on leadership.

"Come on," I urged.

She rolled her eyes but eventually complied, running over to me.

Blaze was a few paces ahead of us.

"What?" I muttered back.

"How well they know each other," Jessica said. "Savannah and Blaze. Do you think they're together?"

I knew that it was important to know if Savannah and Blaze were dating- mostly because we were going to be travelling together for awhile. But also because I had the tiniest bit of a crush on Blaze. Even though it was serious I couldn't help but burst out laughing. The thought of Savannah and Blaze together was just too hilarious. She was like five inches taller than him and they were polar opposites!

Blaze slowly stopped. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Why are you looking at me?" Jessica demanded. "I'm not the one laughing. You can't just assume I'm the problem."

Blaze simply raised a brow.

"Well, okay, I'm the problem most of the time, but this is not the case. Actually, you're the problem!" she quipped.

"No he is not," I suddenly stopped laughing, and looked at Jessica, then looked back at Blaze. "Nothing happened. Jessica and I were just talking."

"About?" he questioned.

"You!" Jessica giggled. "And Savannah."

"Savannah?" his voice raised an octave.

I just stood there, not really knowing what to say. My anxiety was starting to take role.

"Yeah," Jessica continued. "Are you guys dating or what?"

Blaze's serious expression instantly fell and he began to laugh. He laughed so hard he actually doubled over.

"Why would you think that? We never have, never will." He couldn't stop laughing, and I found that cute.

"Why?" Jessica inquired. "Don't you find her pretty?"

He kept laughing. "It's rare for me to find someone beautiful in my eyes." Blaze smirked. "Besides, I'm not her type."

"So what's her type?" Jessica pressed, her eyebrows knit together.

Blaze looked at her, his lips pressed tightly together. He was deliberating against saying something- I knew that much. Eventually, Blaze ignored her question and said, "We should keep moving. Thanks for the laugh though, I needed it."

Jessica stared at him, seeing something in his eyes. See, Jessica kind of had this gift where she could tell who people really were- good or bad. That's why we became friends in the first place. When we were four years old, I still remember, she came running up to me and said, "Wanna be friends? You're one of the good guys." I didn't understood what she meant at the time, but now I got it. And right now she was judging Blaze-seeing who he really was.

After a few seconds Jessica broke eye contact and looked down, nervous. I wanted to ask her what she found out, but decided against it. Sometimes things were better as secrets.

We shortly arrived at the training arena; a large stadium full of practice dummies and spell books.

No one else was there except a tall blonde girl who was- currently- beating the crap out of a mannequin.

Blaze moaned, "I'll be right back."

Jessica and I stood there in silence, waiting for him to get Savannah. I was thinking about what Jessica saw in Blaze- what if she saw that he was a horrible guy, and she was afraid of what he would do to us? Or what if she saw that he was a nice guy, and that he might get in the way of our friendship? I'm not sure.

But Jessica interrupted my thoughts anyway. "We should come here every day and beat the hell out of these mannequins. We'll get stronger, and maybe I can get some revenge on Savannah." she said, smirking.

"That's not very nice," I commented. "You shouldn't cause more drama than their already is."

"Oh, come on!" she sighed. "You're always a goodie goodie."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up. Now isn't the time to be fooling around. We have to be confused today. Where's your bagel?"

She made a face. "The bagel? Oh. I threw that out like twenty minutes ago."

"Jessica..." I was disappointed in her, but then Blaze came back with Savannah, and that brought my mood up.

"Oh, great," Savannah commented upon spotting Jessica. "The troll has revived."

Jessica stuck her tongue out at her.

"For once can everyone not fight?" Blaze said desperately. "We have a job to do."

"Who's to say we're the ones to do it?" Jessica frowned.

"Headmaster Ambrose," I replied. "That's who. Now let's get going."

Blaze took out a map out of his backpack, and unrolled the paper. "This is the map to where the wrath is, The Headmaster gave it to me. We need to follow this path into the deep dark woods, where the evil like the wrath is."

We all exchanged looks, and we nodded heads. I wasn't sure if I was the only one feeling anxiety, but it was the worst feeling I had had since I got diagnosed with this crap.

I waited for Blaze to give us further instructions, but then Jessica broke the silence again. "Into the deep dark woods?" Jessica repeated ominously. "That doesn't sound good."

"Well it won't exactly be a walk in the park," Blaze cautioned. "But if we stay towards the edges of the trees and out of the light we should be okay."

Blaze put his finger on the map. "We'll need to exit here, then go this way, then..." I was absolutely lost in his voice. I couldn't help but not pay attention. I didn't know why this always had to happen. But then, Blaze interrupted my thoughts. "Okay Kiley? Do you understand what you're doing?"

Yes," I said. "Completely."

Jessica raised her brows. "You mean you want to distract the wrath while we attack it? Because I personally would not like to be bait."

"Wait… what?" I cried, alarmed."Shouldn't Jessica be the one to distract? She's weaker, no offense."

"You'll be able to freeze the wrath while Savannah and I attack and Jessica heals," Blaze said, firmly. "Are you sure were listening?"

I didn't know what to say. It was just like in the woods, all over again.

"Yes. I'm positive." Not wanting to keep the attention on me any longer, I said, "Well, we'd better get going."

"Right," Blaze closed the map and put it back in his backup. "Let's get going. I'll lead; I memorized the map last night."

"Of course," I heard Savannah mutter under her breath.

Jessica started cracking up. "Both you and Kiley are such nerds! Ha!"

"Shut up," I whispered, not wanting her to make a fool of me in front of Blaze.

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Just because I memorized a map doesn't make me a nerd. It makes me practical."

"Nerd," Jessica kept laughing.

"Jessica..." I looked into her eyes. I wanted her to stop.

"Yeah, yeah," she waved her hand. "I'll shut up. Let's get this over with."

"Like I said," Blaze looked at Jessica. "It won't exactly be a walk in the park. The wrath won't be the only thing we'll have to kill."

He started walking out of the arena and I waited for Savannah and Jessica to start walking too, since I liked being in the back.

Savannah trotted behind Blaze loyally whereas Jessica moved to walk with me. "You know," she said. "If I get murdered I'm going to be very upset."

I rolled my eyes. "You're so over dramatic."

"You never know what that tall Lorax will do," she chuckled, and started walking, and I started walking with her because I assumed she wanted to be next to me.

"I mean," she continued. "It's not that I'm scared or anything… this just all seems so sudden."

"Sudden… how?" I wondered aloud.

"We came _yesterday_, Kiley."

I shrugged. "Good point."

"It's just… I thought it would be fun here- safe. Of course school would be boring and there'd be bullies and stuff, but…" she trailed off.

"Well-" I was about to start talking, but then I ran right into Blaze's back. "We're about to enter the path to where the wrath is," he said. "Are you guys ready? If anything comes to attack you, you have to know what to do. We just talked about this."

"Of course we know what do to!" Jessica sounded offended. "We aren't stupid."

"Wait, we're already that close to wrath?" I questioned.

"No," Blaze answered. "We're nearly two hours away. This is the start of the path TO the wrath- but while we walk there, there will be tiny things, like snakes. Once we get deeper into the forest it will be more dense with animals and monsters. Be careful."

The second Blaze turned his back on us I whispered to Jess, "What do we do?"

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "You weren't listening? Just now?"

"No," I murmured. "I was listening now. But before…"

She rolled her eyes. "You know, usually I'm the one who has attention problems. But look at you! The perfect one is turning bad!"

"I'm not perfect," I disagreed.

Jessica stared at me. "Well, you're pretty close to it. Anyway," she sighed. "When we come across some other monsters we're supposed to get out of the way. We're the weak ones… remember?"

I scowled. "But I can help."

She shrugged one shoulder lazily. "I have no say in it. Captain's orders."

I sighed and continued walking in an agonizingly slow pace. Suddenly and possibly deliberately, Blaze and Savannah stopped. I stopped too so I would avoid running into one of their backs again, but Jessica hadn't been paying attention and slammed into Savannah's pretty hard. I knew a fight would then occur.

Though, despite what I had thought, Savannah didn't even turn around. She was frozen in place, staring dead ahead.

I peered around Blaze and nearly peed myself. There stood a tall, bony, zombie-looking thing. Its eyes were wide in confusion, but stupid looking- almost like it didn't have any thoughts in its head. It had on a worn top hat with many holes and a small bow tie. It also was wearing a sharp blazer with broken buttons. The zombie looked like it was dressing for a fancy occasion, except its clothes were covered in dirt. The zombie/animal turned towards me and howled, showing off its toothless state.

"A ghoul," Jessica gasped.

Blaze turned towards me, his eyes wide. "Why aren't you doing it, Kiley?"

"Doing what?" I was desperate.

"Freezing it!" Savannah screamed. "Freeze it, Kiley!"

"Hey," Jessica protested. "You told us to stay behind you and watch- to not do anything!"

"No!" Savannah turned around sharply. "We told you to stay out of our way. Kiley can help, whereas you'll only make things worse!"

"Fine!" Jessica hissed, a large amount of hurt shimmering in her eyes.

"Jessica can help," I replied to Savannah. "She's a healer."

"Pfft," Savannah scowled.

"Just freeze it, Kiley!" Blaze demanded.

My breathing picked up as the creature came closer and closer to us. I had only practiced my powers once and they had hardly worked! Besides, Blaze told me you need a clear head for magic. How am I supposed to clear my head right now? A huge zombie is coming right towards me!

"I can't..." I said quietly.

"Why can't you you little shit?" Savannah almost shot fire right at me, but instead she aimed it at the ghoul, setting it ablaze.

The ghoul didn't scream or howl it pain. It simply opened its mouth, almost like it was saying thank you.

And then Blaze sent tons of lightning bolts down on the ghoul, causing loud roaring thunder and tons of baseball sized hail to fall on everyone.

After everyone was definitely sure the ghoul was dead, Savannah approached me, her eyes blazing.

"Why couldn't you do it?" she pushed me hard and I fell against Jessica, sending us both spiraling to the ground.

We both scrambled into a standing position, my eyes flashing around in fear.

"Kiley," Blaze said, looking at me, calmly. I could tell he didn't want to hurt my feelings. "This was a ghoul. A ghoul. If you're not able to help us kill a simple ghoul, you aren't ready for the wrath."

"You're the one who said we had to do it today!" I said, almost crying.

"Because we're running out of time!" he snapped, his calm demeanor long gone. "If we don't hurry up and fight Malistare will kill us all! We don't have a choice."

Jessica scoffed. "This is unfair. She's practiced magic all of one time! And not to mention the one time she did it was utter shit."

I stared at her, surprised she was standing up for me.

"Besides," she continued. "It isn't like you guys are all that powerful either. Savannah almost killed me like three times!"

"Once!" Savannah screamed. "One time!"

"Same difference," Jessica hissed, her eyes narrowing.

"You guys," Blaze said. "Stop fighting. We need to get serious here."

"What's the point?" Jessica shrieked. "We're all going to die anyway. If not from the wrath, then from Malistare."

I looked at Blaze, waiting for his response, but nothing came out of him. He just stood there, emotionless. I could tell he had nothing to say, nothing to do.

"We should get going," he protested.

Jessica sat down on the ground. "I'm not going."

"Do you want to get eaten alive?" Savannah yelled, fireballs forming at her fists.

"I didn't sign up for this," Jessica replied simply. "I didn't sign up to die. I'm sixteen years old."

"Then you better get up and come with us, because you have a hell of a bigger chance of dying here than dying at the wrath." Savannah shot fire at the air because she didn't want to hurt Jessica again, and she continued walking, fast paced.

"Come on, Kiley," he urged. "Let's go."

I moved to start walking with Blaze, but then I realized Jessica was still sitting on the ground. "Come on, Jessica." I said back at her.

I sighed at glanced at Blaze, unsure of what to do. I wasn't leaving without Jessica. Blaze, sensing my thoughts, too, sighed and walked over to Jessica.

She gazed at him. "What are you doing?"

Blaze didn't reply, he simply picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

"Hey," she shrieked. "Let me go! Put me down! I have rights!"

"Nope," Blaze said. "If you won't walk with us, we'll carry you."

"Let her go!" I demanded. "This should be her choice. You can't take away free will."

Blaze looked at Jessica, then back at me. "Fine. But Jessica, you _need_ to walk with us. You have no choice. There is free will but not in this case."

Blaze let Jessica go, and Jessica almost tripped while trying to stand again.

"What is this? Soviet Russia?" she snapped.

"Hey, where's Savannah?" I asked, hoping to avoid a fight between Blaze and Jessica.

Blaze squinted into the dark abyss in front of us. "She ran ahead. I guess she inferred we'd be right behind her."

"Oh, she'll be fine," Jessica started walking the opposite way. "We should just go back. She has this covered."

Blaze grabbed Jessica's bony shoulder and turned her around to face us. "No, Savannah needs us. We'd best get going if we want to catch up with her."

"I don't want to catch up with her," Jessica mumbled.

We both ignored her.

We started to run to catch up to Savannah, and Blaze ended up being a lot faster than me and Jessica.

"Wait..." Jessica gasped, taking a breath. "Wait a minute!"

I wasn't fat or anything, but it wasn't like I worked out every single day. Jessica was even worse than I was-she always made excuses to get out of gym class. We were both dangerously out of shape.

"Slow down!" I wheezed.

Blaze stopped running, and stared back at us. He was humiliatingly far ahead. "Jessica, do you have asthma or something?" he asked.

Jessica looked up, alarmed. "Yes, how did you know?"

He looked concerned. "You're coughing pretty badly. Do you need an inhaler or something?"

"No, I'm fine!" she snapped. Jessica hated admitting weakness.

Jessica looked at me."What's _your_ excuse?" she asked, wheezing.

I didn't know what to say— that made my self-esteem go really low. At that moment, I relapsed horribly.

"Let's just get going," Blaze demanded. "Kiley, help Jessica walk, I'll go slower so you aren't far behind."

"But," I protested weakly. "How will we catch up to Savannah if we're going slowly?"

He simply shrugged. "We have to hope she'll be sensible for once and not challenge the wrath on her own."

"Okay," I sighed.

And before I knew it Blaze had began to walk in front of us again. I wanted to say something to him, about how we should stick together, but then I realized he probably wasn't walking in front of us on purpose. He did have really long legs.

I thought for a few seconds, and it felt like a real light bulb lit on top of my head. "Oh my gosh! I have an idea!"

"What?" Jessica queried.

I stared at her, with a huge smile on my face. I knew this was a serious time right now, but we had to have SOME fun.

I started moving my hands to form ice magic, and I tried my best to make a nice, ice path down the hill we were about to walk down.

"What are you doing?" Jessica yelled.

"I have no idea!" I admitted with a laugh.

Blaze- probably sensing my magic- looked back at us with widened eyes. "Kiley," he roared. "What are you—"

I pushed Jessica onto my ice hill and we began to slide down on our bellies, like penguins.

And soon we were far ahead of Blaze, almost to Savannah.

I glanced back once or twice, if only to see Blaze's reaction to our sliding. He had looked at me, his mouth falling down slack. We whizzed past several ghouls that stared at us like we were insane- we probably were.

"This is for America!" Jessica screamed.

We got a little past Savannah, and we started to slowly stop sliding, since the ice path got to the end.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Savannah yelled.

Jessica and I glanced at each other and then busted into giggles.

I slowly got up, laughing. "We wanted to catch up," I giggled.

Blaze emerged from the hill we had just came down from at a dead sprint. "Oh my God," he screamed. "You idiots!"

"How are we idiots?" I laughed. "It was a good idea!"

"Yeah," Jessica agreed. "We caught up with Savannah faster than you."

Blaze looked at the ice, then at us, and started cracking up. "Idiots!" he laughed, almost falling to the ground.

Savannah sighed. "Stop goofing off. We have business to do."

I stopped laughing. "Why can't you just have fun?" I asked, seriously.

She turned to me and in that moment I swear I could almost see a flicker of sadness in her eyes, but then it was gone. "I don't have time for fun."

"Let's not talk about this right now," Blaze said with a forlorn tone. "Let's just all walk together to the wrath."

"We're about ten minutes away," Blaze said as he pulled his map out. "Get your magic ready. We don't know where this wrath will be or what it'll do. You will _need_ to be ready."

"I was born ready," Jessica said.

Jessica always said that. I was beginning think that was her new slogan.

Though, before we could take another step forward a literal ghost appeared in front of us. The ghost looked like a woman with features contorted in pain. Her mouth was open in a gasp as she screamed loudly. She was wearing a ripped dress and hair in a pixie cut.

"Banshee," Blaze sighed.

"Will you freeze it _this_ time Kiley?" Savannah spat.

"I—"

I was cut off by a loud squeal of the banshee. There were legends of a banshees scream. Some say a banshee is sort of like a siren, except banshees don't lure their victims. Banshees immobilize their victims with their screeches until the victims beg for death. Blaze got in front of us three, and he shot tons of lightning bolts on the banshee, just like he did with the ghoul. I was stunned at how strong he is— he killed the banshee in less than 5 seconds.

I gasped as the ringing faded from my ears. The endless screams of the banshee were now just an echo in the back of my mind. An eternal echo.

Blaze turned towards me, "Are you okay?"

I ignored his question. "How come you were able to fight the banshee?"

"Banshees are weak for my magic strength," he said as he checked to make sure the banshee was dead. "They're way too easy. But you have never fought one before, so you don't know their tricks."

"Tricks?" Jessica demanded, dusting the dirt off of her. She had fallen by the banshees screams, too.

"You get used to their screaming over time," Blaze replied. "The more your magic strengthens, the easier it is to resist more power."

Savannah glanced over her shoulder. "We should get going. The banshees will soon since their sister has died and come after us."

"Well, shit," Jessica said.

After a moment of silence, we all started walking. For about fifteen minutes we all walked in silence, just trying to get to the wrath. We ran through lots of spider webs, ran into branches, and Jessica stepped in this weird pile of goo— but after awhile, Blaze shouted, "We're here guys! Get ready. The wrath should come out at any moment. I read that the wrath senses when a wizard had invaded their property."

After a moment of silence, we all started walking. For about 15 minutes we all walked in silence, just trying to get to the wrath. We ran through lots of spider webs, ran into branches, and Jessica stepped in this weird pile of goo- but after awhile, Blaze shouted, "We're here guys! Get ready. The wrath should come out at any moment. I read that the wrath senses when a wizard had invaded their property."

"Kind of like my mom when I touch her stuff," Jessica murmured.

Savannah slapped Jessica, causing her to moan. "You need to get fucking serious, I mean, shit," Savannah hissed. "You're putting us all in danger by acting like a little retard. I'm not dying here. I'm not going to die because of you."

Jessica laughed, but it was a humorless one. You know, the kind of laughs that are bleak and kind of sad. "I wish you would die," Jessica admitted. "Maybe, then, and only then would you actually feel something. I feel sorry for you. I pity you. You're someone that will never be happy, so you have to ruin everyone else's fun. Who do you think you are?"

I saw that hurt in Savannah's eyes for just a split second, but then it all went away when she exploded with anger. "At least I'm not a little pussy like you. You're weak— you weren't meant to come along with us. You don't deserve to fucking be in this school. You're just not good enough, sorry to bring it to you."

Jessica scoffed, "Sorry?" she shook her head. "No, you're not sorry. But you will be."

"Is that supposed to be some kind of a shit threat?" Savannah cackled.

"Stop it!" I screamed, tears in my eyes. I couldn't take Savannah saying these things to Jessica. She was my best friend.

"Look you little—" "You guys!" Blaze interrupted, causing us to all stare at him, because of his powerful voice. "There is, kind of, a wrath behind you two!"

We all turned around cautiously and I actually screamed at how horrific-looking the wrath was.

There's no words to describe what a wrath looks like. I mean, I guess if I tried really hard I could make out prominent features but, mainly, there was nothing there. The wrath was a shadow— a darkness of sorts. In the lightless depths of the wrath there were two yellow glowing orbs. They held no emotion except for maybe pain. A ripped black cloth was strung lazily over the wrath, almost like it was trying to keep track of where the wrath itself existed.

And in that moment, I realized— this is why Jessica was afraid of the dark.


	5. Chapter 5: Shadow

"It looks like…" Jessica drifted off, trying to find a word to describe the creature in front of us. "Death."

"It is death," Blaze told her. "But not in the literal sense."

"What are we supposed to do?" Savannah yelled. "We've never fought death before!"

"I didn't think it was possible to fight death," Jessica retorted. "After all, how can you kill what's already dead?"

I thought about it, and that was honestly a good question.

"You kill it the same way you kill what's alive—with force," Blaze said loudly.

The wrath hovered closer to us, its yellow eyes staring right at me. I didn't know if the monster could talk, but if it could, I knew it would be cussing me out.

"Freeze it!" Blaze demanded.

"How am I supposed to freeze a shadow?" I yelled.

"Just do it!" Savannah screamed.

I rolled my eyes, but complied all the same. I hadn't helped much during the other fights and I knew I had to prove my worth to the team.

To my alarm, it went through the wrath— the ice didn't freeze the wrath, at all. It shot through it, impaling it.

The wrath moving through my magic, seemingly unaffected. It was impossible, since the wrath didn't have a face, but it seemed almost like it was smirking at me—mocking me.

His yellow orbs danced with amusement. They seemed to say, "You're weak and I'm going to kill you."

"Good job, Kiley," Blaze said as he started shooting lightning bolts down on the wrath. It seemed like I was the only one who noticed the wrath wasn't affected by my magic- that it seemed to absorb every shot of magic it got hit by. Blaze continuously shot at the wrath for minutes. Savannah, too, joined in with Blaze, and together, storm and fire, lit up the dark abyss that surrounded the wrath, but never the wrath itself.

I wanted to tell them to stop—I really wanted to, but my mouth was dry in horror and my feet appeared to be rooted to the ground. I couldn't tell either of them they were only making things worse.

Eventually, Blaze and Savannah stopped their attacks, coming to a rest a few meters beside me. They peered at the wrath in shock that it was still alive.

"What—" Savannah managed to gasp before the wrath shot back everything the two of them had sent its way.

Like a sponge, I realized.

When the magic of Blaze and Savannah got shot back at us it wasn't the same as before-mutated, I guess. When it hit me it felt cold. It felt empty. The magic of the wrath hit me like a hot wind getting blown at me, and I fell backwards, landing right on my tailbone. "Ow!" I screamed.

Savannah landed beside me with a loud cracking noise. Ignoring my pain, I looked over at her in alarm to see her arm bone had snapped. I almost yelped in alarm, seeing the gruesome sight of a white bone sticking out of Savannah's torn, red flesh.

Savannah had her mouth open—like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't. It was almost like her breath was taken away.

"Whoa!" I shrieked. "A-are you okay?" My eyes were as wide as my jaw.

"No!" she roared. "What does it look like? Does it look like I'm okay?"

I ignored her harsh tone. "Do you need help?"

"Does it look like I can handle it by myself?" she screamed.

I groaned inwardly as I army crawled over to her and helped her stand up

As we shuffled around a familiar voice mumbled, "Help… help me."

I turned towards the voice to see Jessica lying face down on the ground, shaking like a leaf. The wrath was mercilessly coming towards her to finish the job.

Blaze seemingly appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of Jessica, shooting electricity at the wrath.

"Stop!" Savannah and I chorused.

"Magic doesn't do anything to the wrath!" I continued, "It only absorbs our power."

The second I finished my explanation the wrath shot back Blaze's bolt of electricity at him and Jessica.

"No!" I wailed.

Blaze and Jessica again fell to the cold concrete, Jessica roaring in agony.

"I-I'm okay," Blaze said as he limped. "Jessica, are you?"

"We need to leave!" Jessica yelled. "We need to retreat!"

"We can't, we need to kill the wrath!" Blaze insisted weakly.

"Only you're really hurt, Savannah," I said. "We have to fight and kill this wrath, Blaze is right."

Jessica scowled. "I'm hurt, too. This is a suicide mission."

"We have to stay!" I told her. "There's no other choice. We need to kill it."

Blaze nodded towards me in agreement. "How?"

"Jessica and Savannah, distract it for now," I demanded. "Blaze, come over here. We need to plan something out."

"Oh of course the nerds plan it!" Jessica said.

Everyone ignored Jessica.

Savannah and Jessica did as I said, walking around the wrath, causing it to get all dizzy. As they did that, Blaze ran towards me, limping. "I once read in a death history book that you're able to trap deathly souls into things to conceal their evil, causing them to fall apart die within themselves."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "But I don't think there's anything here that we can trap the wrath in."

I looked around desperately. "It's too dark to see anything. Can you make it brighter with your lightning or something?"

He glanced over at the wrath, unsure. "I don't want it to absorb my magic."

"It won't, just hold it, like a little lightning bolt."

He sighed, but did it anyway. He created a tiny lightning bolt in his hands, and he held it like a fire person would hold a little ball of fire. The lightning bolt did have some sparks then and there, but the wrath never absorbed anything.

"Let's look now."

Now that there was light I could see exactly where we were and what it looked like. To put it simply, a ghost town. Abandoned buildings with bashed in windows sat with a few banshees roaming around freely.

If I didn't know better I'd say this place had never been for the living, but for ghosts and ghouls. But then I spotted a rusted bicycle against a small house and I wondered what had happened here to drive the living away.

Had everyone died? Or suddenly disappeared? If I lived past the wrath I promised myself I'd ask Merle.

"Over there!" Blaze said. "In the distance! I see something!" He started jogging over there, and I guess he wanted me to follow.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It looks like a box."

"No," I mumbled, wonder filling my tone. "It's a chest."

The chest was large and round. It looked propped, prim, and proper; new. Whereas everything else in the area was old and ruined, here sat a perfect object.

It was completely silver with a simple black skull and cliché crossbones on the front. Rubies were in the eyes of the skull, giving it a sort of haunted look.

"Oh my gosh! This would be perfect!" I exclaimed.

"We can lure it in," I insisted. "That seems like the best way."

"Lure it?" he still sounded unsure. "How? It isn't stupid."

"They can distract it towards the chest, and it can fall in or something."

"They?" he questioned. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Jessica and Savannah look pretty badly hurt."

"Jessica will hold the chest open while the three of us distract it into the chest. Blaze, you're so smart, but sometimes you're an idiot!"

I laughed, and started running back to them, to tell them our plan.

"I'm going to _what_?" Jessica cried.

"It'll be easy, I promise!"

Blaze came running behind me, with the chest. "Geez!" he panted.

"Hold this chest open for us," I said to Jessica.

She nodded, a foreign emotion shimmering in her eyes. Fear.

The three of us turned to go face the wrath when Jessica grabbed my arm. "Wait," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"Just," she hesitated. "Don't die or anything. Okay?"

"Okay."

"No, like, you have to promise."

"Okay, I promise."

"Jessica, go back like fifteen feet," Blaze demanded. "You're too close."

I complied to his request, too tired to object. The fear Jessica had was beginning to seep into my own emotions. If Jessica was scared that meant things were really bad.

Jessica opened the chest, and we all started to lure the wrath. It was kind of funny how smart the wrath seemed, yet how stupid it was. It didn't seem to notice that we were going to trap it in a chest for all of eternity.

As we slowly inched closer to Jessica I noticed she was standing on one leg, shaking, holding a large, silver chest. Her face was pale white and she looked horrified.

"Jessica, it'll be okay." I soothed.

The wrath immediately turned around to stare at me. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

I froze in shock and stark terror, for a moment thinking I had ruined everything. But the wrath turned back around and we began to herd it once more.

The second we reached Jessica I poured every ounce of magic I had in me at the monster. Jessica lifted the chest up high and the monster was sucked into it, like a backwards tornado.  
Once the wrath was completely inside the chest, the lid closed on its own and Jessica let the chest fall to the ground.

I ran to my friend as she collapsed onto me, sobbing.

"We did it Jessica," I said placidly.

"Yes," she sounded surprised. "We did."

"Let's get to Moolinda quickly," Blaze said without humor. "We need to all get healed."

"It took us hours to get here," Savannah replied, flinching in pain. "It will take us forever in our conditions."

"Let's just teleport again," he said. "Jessica, you'll throw up, like Kiley did."

"What!" she screamed. "I'm already in all of this pain!"

"Welcome to my life," Savannah muttered.

* * *

"All I'm saying is that cartoons and animated films are the same thing," Jessica said.

"No they aren't," Savannah grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Cartoons are unrealistic whereas animated films follow the rules of freaking gravity."

"Savannah's right," Blaze interrupted, shooting Jessica a sly smile.

"Whatever," Jessica mumbled, looking downwards.

After we killed the wrath we had teleported and gotten not to Moolinda Wu herself, but one of her life students. The healer got us all patched up as good as new.

We were now in Blaze's dorm, arguing about any and everything, trying to ignore the fact that at some point we had to tell Merle Ambrose we had killed the wrath. Everyone knew once the headmaster knew the wrath was dead we'd have to start traveling in the spiral. No one wanted to leave Wizard City just yet.

In the middle of their argument, Justin came in, laughing goodbye to someone. "Haha! You're such an asshole Alia! I'll see you tomorrow!"

We all turned to face Justin, Blaze's pervert of a roommate.

Justin froze upon seeing the four of us in his house. He immediately cheered up upon seeing Jessica, though. It was really obvious he had a crush on her. "Hey, guys! What's crackin'?"

"What's crackin'?" Blaze interrupted angrily. "I thought you wouldn't be talking to Alia again!"

"Who's Alia?" I questioned.

Savannah busted out laughing. I was surprised. Humor was a rare emotion for Savannah to have.

"My ex-girlfriend," Blaze said, looking miserable.

"She's a stinker!" Justin quipped, sending a wink in Jessica's direction.

I felt a little awkward inside, knowing that Justin, Blaze's closest friend, was friends with his ex-girlfriend, but I guess I felt a little relieved too, because now I know that he was single.

Wait… I thought to myself, how did I know he was single? Just because he had an ex-girlfriend didn't mean he already had one now.

"Why'd you guys break up?" Jessica asked.

Justin and Savannah's laughter roared even louder than before.

"Um," Blaze was blushing. "It's kind of personal."

I could tell Blaze was uncomfortable talking about this, so I quickly changed the subject for his benefit. "Where were you at, Justin?" I asked.

"Where was I?" He smirked, "At a crazy party. Everyone was either high, drunk, or passed out."

Blaze and I stared at each other, feeling that we were the only two normal ones here.

"And Alia was there too?" Blaze asked.

Savannah's eyes narrowed. "What was that crazy bitch doing?"

"Hey," Justin's tone turned slightly defensive. "She's crazy in a good way."

Jessica jumped up, super excited.

"Let's go!" She demanded. "I don't think you'll mind going again, Justin."

Justin rolled his eyes. "No, it's all the way across town. And besides, you're dressed like a hobbit."

"I don't see you wearing any tuxedo," she laughed.

He simply stared at her. "Still. Your clothes are torn and bloody. This isn't Halloween, Jessica."

"Keep in mind that we just attacked a wrath," Blaze said.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Oh, come on," Jessica argued, smirking at Justin. "Today's been a rough day, let's go do something fun."

Justin stood next to Jessica's left shoulder, wrapping his arm around her skinny like neck. "We'll be fine, as long as she goes to change."

Justin laughed. "We can just teleport."

Jessica's eyes widened. "I'd rather walk."

I sighed, anxiety for my best friend growing inside of me. "You shouldn't go," I said. "We've had a rough night."

I rolled my eyes, thinking about what could happen. What if she did get drunk and got hurt? What if Justin lost her and she was stuck there? There were so many possibilities of what could happen, but I didn't want a fight to arise within our little group. "You can go if you promise me to not get hurt or anything."

"Jeez," Jessica laughed, throwing a look Justin's way—a look that said; can you believe this girl? "Sure, mom. I won't do any heroin."

Justin laughed kind of awkwardly. "You still need to change."

Jess rolled her eyes. "My dorm is pretty far away and I have no clothes here." She sighed, "Kiley wins. I guess I can't go."

I smiled inwardly, happy Jessica wouldn't be getting into any shenanigans. I couldn't help but worry about her. After all, every time she went out someone either got murdered or arson was committed.

"Actually," Justin said with a small smirk. "Maybe not."

Jessica immediately perked up. "You mean I can go to the party in these clothes?"

"No," Justin drawled out. "But! I have a way for you to get new clothes instantaneously."

Blaze's eyes widened. "Wait. You don't mean—"

"That's too dangerous," Savannah piped up.

Justin waved away their worries. "Nah. It'll be fine. I've done it tons of times before."

"Done what?" Jessica quirked a brow.

He smiled. "Given people clothes with magic."

My mouth fell open as I asked, "You can do that?"

"Yes," Blaze responded, throwing a glare in Justin's direction. "But it isn't safe. You can't just play with magic."

"Chill out," Jessica hissed. "This is America. I have free will."

"See!" Justin laughed. "She wants me to do it!"

Savannah rolled her eyes. "Just keep me out of this. If you kill her, I don't want the Headmaster on my case."

Justin stopped laughing, his expression becoming serious. "I'm not going to kill her. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah," I narrowed my eyes. "It better."

Jess sighed in aggravation. "Can we speed this up? We're wasting party time."

"Yeah," Justin said. "Hold on."

He backed away us until he was against the wall, bringing out a small stick. "You might feel a slight tingling," he warned Jess.

She quirked a brow. "What's going to happen to my clothes? I like this shirt."

Justin sighed. "Don't worry about it."

He waved his wand horizontally, causing a bright yellow beam to erupt from the stem and hit Jessica straight in the chest.

Her clothes started to sparkle away, kind of like they were dissolving, and all that was left was her bra and this super fancy lace underwear. And, like I suspected, Justin bursted out laughing.

Jessica screeched, wrapping her arms around her breasts as she half squatted. I could tell that she was embarrassed, but also that she wanted to go slap the hell out of that guy. "Why did you do that?"

Justin continued to laugh, and he was laughing so hard that he it looked like he couldn't take a breath. "Why wouldn't I?"

Jessica growled, hitting Justin in the face two times, yet Justin was laughing even harder. "You douchebag!"

I sighed, looking over at Blaze and Savannah. They were speechless, just like I was. What were we supposed to do? Let Justin humiliate our friend like that? I was hoping Justin would just be nice for once and give her some clothes, but no, he does _that_, like the pervert he is.

But, right in the middle of my 'what are we supposed to do' look, Blaze takes out his thin wand and does the same thing Justin did, moving his wand horizontally and then shooting out a yellow burst of magic towards Jessica. The same this happened with the whole dissolving concept, except it was going the opposite way. It looked like one of those crappy Barbie movies when magic makes her dress transform. But, at the end, Jessica was wearing a form fitting bright scarlet dress, along with her face blushing like crazy.

Justin had stopped giggling by then, but a wild smirk was thrown across his face. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Go?" Jess screeched. "You just humiliated me! I'm not going anywhere with you."

Justin rolled his eyes. "They have a really good food spread at the party."

Jessica opened her mouth to protest, but then hesitated. We hadn't eaten since this morning and she was probably starving. "How good?"

"It's really good," Justin taunted, his smile bigger than ever before.

I groaned. How could Jessica not see how big of a jerk this guy was?

"Okay," Jessica sighed. "Let's just go."

I opened my mouth to protest, but from the corner of my eye I saw Blaze shake his head ever so slightly.

I watched as my best friend left with Blaze's perverted roommate.

We all sighed, kind of with a tone of relief if a way, but in another way, with worry. Both of them were gone for the night, but at the same time, it was kind of scary to think Jessica was going to be at a high party with a pervert that hits on her all of the time. I just didn't know what to think about. I simply just laid back in the chair and looked up, but before I could have a simple five seconds of silence, Blaze started another conversation. "Do you guys want to eat dinner here? I don't mind."

Savannah had been on her iPhone during the entire Jessica-Justin fiasco, so she looked up when Blaze asked a question directed towards her. "What do you have?"

He grimaced. "A pack of Ramen and melted ice cream."

He looked a little more, and then opened his mouth again. "Make that 4 packs of ramen. You guys want some?"

"Yeah," Savannah and I said at the same time. Savannah glared at me, like she couldn't believe the nerve I had to use the same vocabulary as her.

I got up from the chair to help him make it, but he looked back at me with 3 packs of ramen in his arms. "Don't worry, I got it," he smiled. "You can sit."

"Yeah," Savannah said snidely. "Come sit with me."

I made a face, but obeyed Savannah's wishes.

As I sat back down and looked back at Blaze, he was getting a medium sized metal pot out of a small pantry and filling it up with sink water. I ended up staring at him from the back, and I couldn't help but notice how nice his back actually looked. Honestly, he just perfect, and I wanted to keep seeing how many flaws he _didn't_ have, but unfortunately Savannah saw me staring at him, and I could tell she was going to say something.

"Take a picture," she snapped. "It'll last longer."

Thankfully, her voice wasn't very loud and Blaze didn't hear her. But it was embarrassing all the same.

"Oh, come on," I said in a hushed tone. "Haven't you ever liked someone before? Are you even capable of liking?"

Savannah laughed while I heard Blaze opening the ramen packages, "Sure, I've liked people before."

"So what happened?" I asked, wondering what had happened to make her such a cold hearted person.

She shrugged. "They died."

My brows furrowed together. "How can you be so nonchalant about death?"

"I'm used to it."

I frowned inwardly, actually feeling a little bit of sympathy for her. She's _used_ to death?

As I was about to open my mouth and continue our conversation, Blaze sat down in his chair with a smile on his face.

Savannah suddenly spoke, "It's going to be the three of us, you know."

"What?" Blaze asked.

The blonde sighed, leaning on her forearms for support. "Jessica isn't strong. After we tell the Headmaster that we killed the wrath, he'll pull her out of our assignment."

"Wait," Blaze continued. "Is that what he meant by 'it'sa risk we will have to take'? I should've known that!"

He suddenly lost his joyful mood, and soon seemed forlorn. "Jessica _is_ weak, but _we'll_ be weak if she leaves us."

"We're weak without her?" Savannah snorted with a small roll of her eyes. "Sure."

"Hey," I snapped. "Give her a break. She just started studying magic."

"But you have too," Blaze sighed. "I'm guessing she wasn't told that she was 'special'."

That's right- I remembered that the Headmaster pulled me over to tell me that I was special. I didn't get it then, but it's starting to make a little bit of sense now. I'm special, meaning I'm one of the few people who he believes are the strongest in and out, and can take on the most difficult challenges.

"But, if you guys think Jessica wasn't meant to tag along with us, why would the Headmaster allow her to?"

Blaze smiled with something dark shinning in his eyes. "Isn't that the question?"


End file.
